In 2025, AI stopped being a project and became operational reality, moving from theory to practice inside the enterprise.
Large language models, copilots, and
autonomous agents were deployed at speed, often faster than organizations could fully understand the implications.
Security teams learned quickly that while AI accelerated productivity, it also accelerated risk. The controls they relied on were not built for systems that can act, decide, and interact at machine speed.
As enterprises enter 2026, the conversation is shifting. The question is no longer whether AI will be used, but whether it can be used safely, compliantly, and at scale.
Based on interviews with Saviynt’s security and identity leaders, four trends are emerging that will define how organizations approach identity and security in the year ahead.
Trend 1: AI has become an identity problem
AI is no longer just another technology layer. AI systems now behave like operational actors. They access systems, trigger workflows, retrieve sensitive data, and make decisions that have real business impact.
This fundamentally changes the identity landscape. AI agents and automations operate with credentials, permissions, and authority, often with more reach than a human user. Yet, they rarely have the same governance structures in place. As David Lee, Field Chief Technology Officer at Saviynt, notes, the speed of AI adoption has outpaced organizations’ ability to secure it, creating new attack paths that security teams are still learning to recognize.
The implication for 2026 is that enterprises can’t treat AI as an external system to be monitored. AI must be governed as a first-class identity, subject to the same or stronger controls as human users, including least privilege, lifecycle management, and continuous validation.
Trend 2: Non-human identities are exploding and outrunning controls
The rapid growth of
non-human identities (NHIs), including service accounts, API keys, workload identities, and now AI agent credentials, will only continue. These identities already outnumber human users by orders of magnitude, and AI is accelerating that imbalance.
Henrique Teixeira, SVP of Strategy at Saviynt, describes this as a compounding problem. Static machine credentials were already difficult to govern, and the addition of AI agents introduces identities that are dynamic, ephemeral, and often created without clear ownership. Traditional identity governance models, designed around predictable human behavior, are not equipped to manage identities that can appear, act, and disappear in seconds.
Without centralized governance, these identities become prime targets. Overprivileged or dormant machine accounts provide attackers with low-friction entry points, especially when AI systems are manipulated through techniques like prompt injection or model abuse. In 2026, governing non-human identities will move from a niche concern to a core security priority.
Trend 3: Model context protocol (MCP) emerges as a new security frontier
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a quiet but significant shift in enterprise architecture. MCP enables AI systems to interact with applications, tools, and data sources in a standardized way. It’s similar to how APIs transformed cloud computing.
That analogy is intentional. Jim Routh, Chief Trust Officer at Saviynt, warns that MCP is following the same adoption curve as early APIs — rapid deployment, limited visibility, and insufficient governance. MCP tokens and credentials effectively become high-value access points, yet most organizations have not extended identity controls to cover them.
As with API sprawl, unmanaged MCP connections can expose sensitive systems and create new lateral movement paths for attackers. The opportunity, however, is also significant. With proper identity integration — authentication, intent validation, and least privilege enforcement — MCP can become a manageable, auditable interface rather than an uncontrolled one. In 2026, identity teams will need to treat MCP as part of their core access surface.
Trend 4: Data security returns through the identity lens
AI’s ability to rapidly correlate and surface information changes the risk profile of legacy data almost overnight.
As Lee pointed out, files created years ago and forgotten on collaboration platforms can now be exposed with a simple prompt. Data classification and cleanup efforts that were deferred due to complexity are returning as urgent priorities, but it’s not quite the same. In an AI-driven environment, data security is inseparable from identity security.
AI systems access data through identities. Excessive permissions, poor access hygiene, and unclear ownership translate directly into exposure. In 2026, organizations will increasingly focus on cleaning up identity metadata, enforcing least privilege, and understanding access patterns as a prerequisite for safe AI use.
In 2026, identity is what turns AI into a business capability
AI is no longer something security teams can “wrap controls around” after deployment. It reshapes how work gets done, how access is granted, and how risk propagates through the enterprise.
Identity sits at the center of this transformation. It is the only domain capable of enabling AI systems to operate autonomously while remaining compliant, accountable, and contained. Organizations that modernize identity governance for a world of human and machine workers will be better positioned to realize AI’s promised productivity gains. Those that don’t will struggle to move beyond experimentation.
In 2026, the enterprises that succeed with AI won’t be the ones that deploy it fastest. The successful organizations will be the ones that govern it best.
Learn more about the
Saviynt Identity Security Platform here.
Saviynt's AI-powered identity platform manages and governs human and non-human access to all of an organization's applications, data, and business processes. Customers trust Saviynt to safeguard their digital assets, drive operational efficiency, and reduce compliance costs. Saviynt is recognized as the leader in identity security, with solutions that protect and empower the world’s leading brands, Fortune 500 companies and government institutions. For more information, please visit www.saviynt.com.
